Organizations lose out on 21.3% of their productivity due to problems related to document management.
For firms that have little to spare by way of avoidable losses, investing in a document management system is critical. When you use physical records to store your information, you continually risk losing that data permanently.
Investing in a secure document storage system might sound intimidating for some businesses, but it ought not to be so. Here are some salient advantages of scanning the documents that can entice you to consider going paperless.
1. Enhances Secure Document Storage
Physical documents can be accessed relatively easily by anyone with malicious intent. All they need to do is pick a lock and they are in.
On top of that, water and fire can damage your documents at any time. If your company stores critical information on physical documents only, then security can become a core issue.
When you scan your documents, you gain a higher level of security on them. For starters, you can store them in cloud repositories and duplicate them enough to avoid any data loss issues.
Another benefit of scanning your documents and storing them is that you can control access. Using these cloud storage repositories, you can designate a clearance level for all staff. Only the people who need to see specific documents get to access the information.
Even when you need to share the documents with outside parties, you can have peace of mind that you control their access.
In case of any problem concerning the documentation, scanned records can help you figure out who did what with the information.
You can conduct a full electronic audit trail to discover who accessed the documents, and when they did so. Such an audit would be quite challenging to perform with physical documents.
2. Promotes Sustainability
Businesses today need to be a part of the solution when it comes to climate change. Relying heavily on physical documents means that as a firm, you contribute to the continued logging of trees for paper.
Although some might argue that there are now sustainable forests supplying the paper industry, these are only a fraction. The majority of the paper your company uses still comes from fast depleting forest reserves.
Going paperless as an organization is relatively simple, yet it can have profound effects on sustainability. You contribute directly to improving the planet by reducing the amount of paper you consume.
When you go paperless, you also contribute indirectly as you help lessen the emission of greenhouse gases in transporting the documents.
3. Better Customer Care
The type of documentation you use has a material impact on the customer experience you can deliver. When you rely on physical records, it inevitably accumulates. As a result, the more your business grows, the harder it becomes to access the necessary customer information.
When your client reaches out for service, your staff will struggle to identify the information they need. That, in turn, can make the customer have to wait longer than usual to get a solution to their problem.
Such a scenario ends up lowering a client's view of your business. Over time, that can become an existential threat to your brand.
Scanning and storing your documents means that you have relatively easy access to it on demand. Once a customer shows up, all the information necessary to serve them is just a keyword search away.
4. Saves Time
If your organization is like other top-performing firms, it values operational efficiency. The time an employee spends per task means your company can either achieve a lot or a little, which directly impacts the top line.
Scanning the documents you rely on helps your team organize the records more efficiently. Instead of having to comb through piles and piles of physical files, your staff only needs to look up the reference code for the documents they need digitally.
Thus, even if you need to find information from decades ago, it takes very little time to identify it.
Another essential time-saving aspect of scanning records is when you need to share information across the organization.
Traditionally, doing so has meant photocopying reams of papers then manually delivering them to every employee who needs them. That can take considerable time.
When you scan and store your records, sharing information is as easy as sending a company-wide email with a link. Every staff member who needs to access the files can do so fast and from their device.
Since this is not a one-off instance but something that will happen throughout the year, the time you save adds up.
5. More Space
When your organization goes paperless and scans all the documents, filing cabinets and other storage areas become redundant. Consequently, you will suddenly find you have a lot more space in the office for operations.
For example, scanning and storing your documents on one DVD is the equivalent of what you can store on 30 filing cabinets. Now imagine how much space you can free up in your office by scanning the documents.
For example, it is entirely possible that scanning your records can help you improve your company culture. With the space you save, you can introduce more employee-friendly features that boost morale.
6. Cost-Efficient
Scanning your documents helps you save on storage space as you need few to no filing cabinets. You can even downscale to a cheaper office once you find you don’t need as much space as before now that your records are stored digitally.
If you depend on a third party physical document storage company, you can cut down on that line item in your budget. Paying for a subscription to scan your records is cheaper than outsourcing physical document storage.
Keep Your Information Safe at All Times
In today’s business environment, where information is power, using physical records is high risk. In case of unforeseeable adverse events, you can lose your data without any hope of retrieval. To buffer against such peril, you need to scan your records and develop a secure document storage system that can withstand any shocks.
MES Hybrid Document Systems has 40 years of experience in providing electronic document management systems. Talk to us today for peace of mind when it comes to your records, and not pieces of paper.